First order extensions of classical systems of modal logic. The role of the Barcan schemas (Q1611252)

The paper is a study of first-order extensions of classical systems of modal logic [see \textit{B. F. Chellas}, Modal logic. An introduction. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge etc. (1980; Zbl 0431.03009)]. Classical systems of modal logic are characterized by the so-called neighborhood semantics introduced by \textit{R. Montague} [Theoria 36, 373-398 (1970; Zbl 0243.02002)] and \textit{D. Scott} [Philos. Probl. Logic, Colloquium Univ. Calif. Irvine 1968, 143-173 (1970; Zbl 0295.02013)]. The author extends this semantics to deal with quantification, by suitably redefining the basic structures and adding the appropriate truth-clauses. He then establishes a number of results to the effect that some properties of the new structures are linked to the validity of the Barcan Schema and/or the Converse Barcan Schema on these structures. The author claims that these results have interesting applications in epistemic logic, in particular for the characterization of probability and likelihood.